I did get an email, as all users did,that the new look was going to be in place this week. I have not had the need to log on so far this week. I enjoyed the beta version am I'm sure I'll like to full version.

There are some aspects of the new style I like, others I'm not a fan of - but I love that Eric's keeping the old interface around like that for those who prefer it for various things. (I'm a big fan of the old interface for organizing/viewing my cellar.)

While I've been sticking to the "classic" till now (I'm quite resistant to change), I'm now using with the new version. Some things I preferred about the old one, but as I get used to it I expect any annoyance will fade. There are certain things that are clearly better in new version. If you are adding multiple wines from a single purchase at one time it's WAY faster. I just picked up 2 mixed cases from CSW. Only 7 bottles were "trackable", but entire entry took me about 2 minutes (included 4 different vintages of CFE in mag- typed "trimbach emile", clicked 4 vintage boxes, voila) - in old version would have needed to select CSW 7 times. It's also great the vintage dropdown includes all vintages. There are some things I like better, some I like less. But I'm pretty sure with time I'll get used to it and forget all about my mini-peeves.

Dale Williams wrote:While I've been sticking to the "classic" till now (I'm quite resistant to change), I'm now using with the new version. Some things I preferred about the old one, but as I get used to it I expect any annoyance will fade. There are certain things that are clearly better in new version. If you are adding multiple wines from a single purchase at one time it's WAY faster. I just picked up 2 mixed cases from CSW. Only 7 bottles were "trackable", but entire entry took me about 2 minutes (included 4 different vintages of CFE in mag- typed "trimbach emile", clicked 4 vintage boxes, voila) - in old version would have needed to select CSW 7 times. It's also great the vintage dropdown includes all vintages. There are some things I like better, some I like less. But I'm pretty sure with time I'll get used to it and forget all about my mini-peeves.

It was a bit jarring yesterday when I used the new interface for the first time. My first thought was that Eric's appropriated the color scheme of Snooth. My second thought was that this change was largely driven by the need to integrate CT with "social media" more closely. I don't have any substantive comments right now, but once I've used it more I'm sure I will have.

The "shopping cart" for adding multiple wines from the same purchase is clearly a step forward, and once I figured out what was going on (the checkbox is not a standard metaphor for adding things to a shopping cart) I like that part a lot. Unfortunately, the surrounding menu bars are much more attractive looking but now completely incoherent. Whereas before you could count on having the same menu items available on every single page, now there's at least three different sets of menus, all with considerably less functionality than the old ones. For Cellartracker power users, it's a big step back. It seems like Eric is interested in fixing these things, so I have some hope for the future, but right now I am pretty frustrated. He is doing UI testing, so that's a very good sign.

And I'm a classic early adopter. I'm always on the latest OS (often a beta) and love user interface enhancements, even if they take some time to get used to. Everything new (even if it's better in the long run) seems terrible at first.

I have to say I'm sticking with the classic site for as long as its around. First, the old home page has what I want to see: a list of 10-12 tasting notes of my wines from other users and clear links to all major site tasks on the one page. The new site home page only lists about 5-6 wines and more clicks are required to do some tasks (not all). Second, I have absolutely no interest in all the new social media opportunities: I just want to be able to keep track of my wine and check out notes from others to see how my wines are doing (i.e., if my wines are ready to drink). I think Eric forgot the KISS rule. But I appreciate all the work he's put into the sites, and can't imagine life without CT!

"Tastes are perhaps first and foremost distastes, provoked by the disgust and visceral intolerance ... of the taste of others". Pierre Bourdieu (1984, p. 56)

It is really not much different than the Beta site which has been running for over a year now. It is very easy to navigate and has fixed all the issues with things I was missing from the classic site. I find it just as easy to navigate, and it is easier to add wines, especially when adding many at one time.

I find the new site far too technical for someone like me who does not have a lot of computer knowledge and a problem with memory retention..and I am being serious.I can find my tasting notes `cos I am logged in and they stare me in the face. I can find others too like Otto, Salil etc.

I am very frustrated with the new site. After playing around with it on and off for a couple of days, I was only able to accomplish one simple task. I'm going to try and figure out how to turn pending orders into arrivals since I have a few cases arriving next week. I'm still using the original version because it is so much easier to view everything about the wine you have when it is one click and on one page.

While I'm resistant to change, I'm finding this fairly easy, and as noted some things such as entering a mixed case purchase is much faster.

Diane, when on home page there is a PEnding category, and a button for accept delivery. Or when in My Cellar hover or use drop down from In My Cellar, select Pending. If you hover on a wine, a check box will appear and just select it. But if you have a lot of pending wine, but are getting all of your wine from one source (as is typical), on Summarize By menu select Store. Then just check the select all box. Once you've checked a box a red "accept delivery" button appears.

I'm adjusting to the change, since it is inevitable. One very cool feature is the bulk relocate. I'm moving about 20 cases home, and being able to change the location of all the wines in each box en masse has saved me tons of time.

This new CT is more powerful, and I'm starting to appreciate its features.

I think once we all find where everything is 'hidden,' which makes for a cleaner look, we will be happy with the new CT. I now check every drop-down menu where I often find what used to be listed on the left of the old CT. Your example, Dale, for pending deliveries is a good one.

David M. Bueker wrote:Eric has indicated that classic will eventually go away.

No I have NOT indicated that. I have written long essays on this topic on my forum and several others. Here is one again.

People have asked, I don't have a hard and fast timeline for how long we will maintain the old site at www.cellartracker.com/classic, and we are certainly not intending to yank the old site away in the foreseeable future. However down the line, especially as we add some deeper, new features (for example the way to predefine all of your cellar storage locations and capacities; or proper per-purchase currency handling with currency exchange; or the ability in any query to multi-select e.g. show me all of my Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Red Bordeaux Blend wines) it will take a LOT of extra work to not break the old site. In essence, over time the old site will significantly hold back what we can do in the new site.

So our plan is to play it by ear and carefully monitor how many folks are using the old site. In a year, if that is just a few hundred people or even a thousand people, we will have to carefully consider how long we can keep the old site around. Maybe that needs to be forever. I just don't know at this stage. To put this in perspective, in December about 1 million unique people will visit this (new) site, most of those unregistered and just using Google to find tasting notes and other information. Of the 250,000 people who have ever registered on the site, we estimate that about 100,000 are using the service to actively maintain their inventory on at least an annual basis.

Certainly I know that no one likes change for the sake of change. I know this is a VERY big change on the surface, although it is all of the same functionality and data (and a lot of new functionality and data as well). We feel very strongly that the new site is something we can build on, optimize, extend, translate for many years to come. The old site less so (and that extends to how it was built). There are just a ton of changes to how we are building the new site that will make it easier for us to maintain and extend, for me to bring on more programmers in the future. (I would love to add a 3rd or even 4th programmer down the line.) We could have spent a year making those changes under the covers on the old design, but we can't really turn back now.

I can't tell you how long it took me to find it even after you mentioned it.

I really wish you had spent 2-3 minutes perusing this document: https://www.cellartracker.com/content.asp?iContent=41It is still worth a quick skim.The new site BEGS people in two prominent places to do so. I sent personal emails to everyone asking them to do so. It covers this exact topic (THE MENU).